On Dec. 1, the over-30-year-old 2222 Fillmore Street Starbucks officially closed. The 2222 Fillmore Street building and about two city blocks of buildings on Fillmore have been purchased for $100 million.
The buildings were bought by billionaire venture capitalist Neil Mehta and his business partner Cody Allen. Mehta released a statement to clarify the reasoning behind his investment— to bring in new and diverse local businesses to Fillmore Street.
“The Starbucks closing was a complete shock to me,” senior Amelia Batt said. “It has been such a popular spot for convent students over the years,”
Along with Starbucks, many other Fillmore stores and restaurants such as Noosh, Apizza, and Alice & Olivia have been bought by Allen and Mehta. Some other legacy businesses such as the restaurant, La Mediterranee have been working hard to stay open, despite their neighborhood businesses being quickly bought by Allen and Mehta.
In Nov. the Legacy Business Owners Program was quickly approved by London Breed, following Allen and Mehta’s acquisition of many Fillmore Street businesses. Despite this, many small business owners are still worried about the possibility of closure.
Mehta and Allen’s goal is to prioritize small businesses, but they have also pushed out many Fillmore legacy buildings, including the 46-year-old family-owned business, Sushi Ten-Ichi. This has led Mehta to face backlash and criticism for his mission to revitalize Fillmore Street according to junior Piper Leffert.
“I hope some of the staple small businesses can stay in business,” Leffert said. “While it could be good to have new businesses, I think it is important to keep some of the old ones too.”
Mehta explained that his experiences of growing up in the Fillmore area and witnessing the negative effects of COVID-19 on small businesses inspired him to buy the buildings. His business plan is to create more local businesses and make Fillmore Street a locally-owned retail area.
Allen and Mehta are going to try to prioritize food and beverages when finding tenants for the buildings. They have stated that they have much interest from potential local tenants who want to bring their businesses to Fillmore Street.
“I am interested to see what new stores and restaurants will open in the next few months,” Batt said. “While I will miss some of the old stores, I am also excited to try out new restaurants and go to new stores.”
